RIP PPP

Alright alright, another week here in Bawjiase. This week wasn't too crazy but my companion did kill a bird. I'll give a little back story first. In my companion's last area they had a bunch of rats running around in and near their apartment. All of the missionaries got fed up with it and they all bought their own slingshots. He told me that it pretty much solved their rat problem. They were also a lot of crows in the area and they were killing people's chickens. Whenever they were bored they would just shoot crows out of trees and he got pretty good at it. Now bring it back to this week when my companion got bored again... I was just sitting in bed reading a book when he ran into my room holding a dead bird. Well, we thought it was dead. He went to show all of the other missionaries and the bird started freaking out and trying to get away. We put it in a box because we didn't know what else to do with it. We tried to find a way to save the bird but he died shortly afterward. We held a funeral for him and even gave him a full name. I didn't take any pictures out of respect for the bird.  <- Roughly what he looked like.

Rest In Peace - Phelix Phoenix Phillips

The rest of the week was just normal missionary work. It's been getting really hot here. I have to carry around a handkerchief just to wipe the sweat off my forehead. I've been drinking a lot of water too because I don't want to have a heat stroke.

Fun Fact - Being in a building without AC or a fan is hotter than just being outside. A lot hotter! Our power has been going out a lot lately so sometimes we have the privilege of sleeping without a fan at night. Nice and Toasty...

We also walked some of the kids we have been teaching to church this Sunday. I've kinda just realized no matter how many times someone promises you they are going to come to church, they don't come. So we just have to bring them to church ourselves. The kids live pretty far away so it's a long walk. One of them is in primary and the other four are youth. My favorite is the 8-year-old kid named Godson. He's a future apostle for sure.

That's my whole week! I hope everyone enjoys Thanksgiving in America with all of the food and football.

Email Me @ - aidan.holyoak@missionary.org

Message Me on Facebook @ - Aidan Holyoak

See you all next week!

Elder Holyoak

Moses and the children of Israel on the way home from church.

Shleep

Ampesi

Mean Muggin'

Kasoa is getting a KFC!!!

Golden Dealership

Hello Darkness My Old Friend

Alright, everyone, I'm sorry for not emailing last week but don't worry I'm about to explain why. This email is going to be longer than the Book of Alma so strap in. It's going to cover all that happened in the last two weeks. I'll try my best to keep it entertaining. If you get bored, just skip to the pictures. I don't blame you.

In the Dark

So the main reason I missed last week's email was because of a blackout. In Ghana, the power is not very reliable. A small rainstorm can put the power out in your area for a couple of hours. Last Monday, the power went out around 7 PM and came back on Wednesday at 1 AM. That means the power was out for around 30 hours. Last email I talked about having no water for a few days. Our water pump has to have power to work so we got the same treatment for a few days this week. Also, our phone died about an hour after the power went out so we went a day and a half without being able to call any of our interested people. (That's also why I couldn't email.) Even though the power came back on it would go out randomly for about an hour each day for the rest of the week. I figured it would just be better to do a double email this week and save our phone battery. My companion and I share a phone so our phone battery is very valuable.

Last Week

Multizone

The only significant thing that happened last week was our Multizone Conference. We met with two other zones and I got to talk with some of my friends from the MTC. I also met a lot of the new Americans that came in during the last transfer. They are all super chill and I'm excited to serve around them. We played some Jeopardy-like scripture games. By far my favorite part about Multizone is the tie salesman. At the end of every Multizone, a guy comes with a bunch of Kente ties. They are pretty cheap so this time I bought a few. Kente is a type of fabric in West Africa where they make super intricate and colorful designs. 

The Rest of the week

The rest of the week was pretty much just finding new people and sorting out who is actually serious. Most of the people in Ghana are too nice to tell you no so a lot of the people you teach don't even tell you when they aren't interested anymore.

This Week

Segura's Birthday

Elder Segura (One of my friends from the MTC who lives in the same apartment as me now) had his birthday on Tuesday. We celebrated on Monday by going to the Mall and eating at the same chicken place as we did last time. It was so worth it. It's by far the best food I've tasted in weeks. On his actual birthday, the power was out the whole day but we still did our best to celebrate. We bought bootleg cupcakes from the mall and blue (non-alcoholic) champagne. He made some Kraft Mac and Cheese that he brought from America. I really wanted some but I didn't ask for a bite because it was his birthday. We cut up a pineapple and ate everything with headlamps on. It was still a really fun night.

Green Flake

This week we had a stake activity to watch a movie called Green Flake. It's about one of the slaves that was converted to the church during the Saint's journey to Utah. We didn't know until the day of the movie but the director actually showed up at our Stake Center. It gets even weirder. The director is also part of the singing group "The Bonner Family". The Bonner Family sings church songs, Christmas music, and plenty of other stuff on their YouTube channel. Not only did the director show up (who is the oldest brother in the family) but half of the family was there too. We weren't able to see the whole movie because of mission curfew but we got to talk with some of the family and take some pictures. They were super nice and it was weird talking to someone with an American accent who wasn't a missionary.

The House of Learning

On Saturday we had the opportunity to go to the Accra Ghana temple with our ward. It was a long ride there but it was definitely worth it. The Accra temple isn't as huge as the ones in Utah but it is still a super cool building and the temple grounds are very nice. I was able to do some Baptisms for the Dead with my companion. I love seeing the inside of different temples. The architecture and artwork are always amazing to look at and the quietness inside is super calming. The Accra temple is the only one in Ghana right now but they are currently building one in Kumasi which is farther North in Ghana.

Baptismal Disaster

Yesterday was one heck of a Sunday. First of all, we planned for 4 of the people we have been teaching to show up at church but we got a grand total of 0. The Papaase Elders had a baptism planned for the day and since they are in our group, they use the same baptismal font as us. Before church, my companion and I had to clean out the font and start filling it. We didn't realize until 2 hours later that there was something wrong with the drain and that it doesn't close all the way. While we were trying to figure out how to fix it a member asked us for a Priesthood blessing. After the blessing, we decided that we were going to have to plug the drain with something ourselves. We went around finding plastic bags and shoved them all in the drain. It blocked the water but the hose was still filling the font too slow for it to finish before the baptism. My companion jumped up on top of the water tank next to the font and told me to hand him a bucket. We then spent the next 25 minutes passing buckets of water and dumping them into the font. The sun was blazing hot and we kept spilling water so we were all soaked. In the middle of all that they told me I was going to be giving a talk at the baptism. I prepared something small and kept dumping buckets of water. Finally, when we filled the font enough, we all went back inside the church and had the service. They didn't tell me but someone else stepped up and gave a talk for me. It was a very confusing and stressful day but the whole service went great and then we went and got fed at a member's house after, so that was cool.

Aaand... that was (almost) everything in the last few weeks. 

I'd love to hear from you all and see what's going on in your lives, here's how you can reach me.

Email - aidan.holyoak@missionary.org

Facebook - Aidan Holyoak

If you have any questions about Ghana send me an email and I can answer them in my next email.

Scripture of the Week

Titus 3:9

"But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain."

Just kidding, any question is fine. 

I'll see you all next week!

Elder Holyoak

The House of Learning

Group of kids we are teaching

Baptism Font - Elder Mvoula saves the day

Brethren at Multi-Zone

New Kente Ties

Elder Segura's Birthday Feast

The Bonner Family (Utah Singing Family)

Diamond in the Rough

Speaks for itself

Fried Plantains I cooked myself - Pretty tasty

The meal that I literally eat every night. 

(Indomie, garlic toast with a fried egg on top, and crackers)

The same meal, but blue to shake things up

Halloween and Deluxe Indomie

Hello everyone this week was very interesting. I'm going to warn you now that this email is going to be a little long but that's because I had a lot to talk about.

First of all, I met my new companion! His name is Elder Mvoula (pronounced mm voo la). He is from the Republic of Congo and he's super funny and chill. We have already had a great week together and I can tell that we are going to work well together. His first language is French, so he learned English for his mission here. He has been in Ghana for 7 months now though so we can communicate pretty well. Elder Segura is also training now and he is training a Ghanaian named Elder Mensah. The whole apartment is still a lot of fun (definitely not as loud). 

One of the fun things we have been doing as a zone is practicing in the stake choir. They invited all of the missionaries so we have been going for around 2 weeks now. We found out that the choir would be performing at a funeral. Now it was a little bit of a shock because the entire choir didn't really sound that good. Especially the missionaries because over half of us didn't know how to sing, including me. When the funeral came around it got even worse. They told us that we would be singing one hymn for the open casket. We had a little bit of practice beforehand, but when the time came we squeezed a choir of about 50 people on a tiny stage and sang a hymn to the open casket. Luckily it was only one verse, but it was still pretty strange. We then went up to the area behind the pulpit and took our seats. We sang about 5 other Hymns throughout the funeral service and there were probably over 200 people in the building. (That sounds like an exaggeration, but the building was packed to the brim.) We found out this Sunday, after practice, that they didn't want the missionaries participating in the choir anymore. They said, "We want you to be able to focus more on your work, then to come to choir." We all knew it was just because we are bad at singing.

One fun thing that happens on occasion here in Ghana is that the water in the missionary apartments will just stop working. Sometimes we can fix it ourselves and we only go without water for maybe an hour, but other times we have to call the mission repair guy and it can be out for a couple days. This weekend we were lucky enough to go without water for 2 and a half days. That's a new record for me, but I've heard of other missionaries having it worse. The power will also go out sometimes and funny enough we had no power and no water for 3 hours on Halloween night. When you have no water you have to either buy bags of water in bulk or fetch water yourself with a bucket. The spigot for our water is just outside our apartment so we don't have to walk far. Don't worry too much about us though, the repair guy fixed our pump this morning so it probably won't break again for at least a few weeks. 

Pro-tip for anyone who has to shower with a bucket: If you take about 1/4 of the water out of the bucket and boil it, then mix it in with the rest and you can have a hot shower just like the ones you had at home.

Happy Halloween!!! We didn't celebrate much because we live in a country where the holiday doesn't exist but we tried our best. Me and Segura sort of made costumes and we bought some candy. We also played some Halloween music and had dinner. I found some deluxe Indomie that I had that night and it was pretty nice.

Scripture of the Week - Matthew 21:22 "And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive."

Well thanks for reading, I hope you all had a great Halloween! 

See you next week,

Elder Holyoak

New Companion - Elder Movoula

Kasoa Market

Our Water Spigot 

Halloween Costume (Not sure what I am)

Deluxe Supreme Divine Exquisite Indomie

Finished Product

Sickness and a T Bone

Hello everyone! This week was pretty uneventful. I was sick most of the whole week, so I only left the apartment a few times. Don't worry about me though, I'm feeling a lot better now. I got tested for Malaria and it was negative, so all is well.

There was one thing that happened a few days ago. We had to travel to Kasoa to get medicine from a pharmacy and on the way back we got in another Tro Tro accident. Our driver was going a little too fast and he was swerving around cars. One of those motorcycle taxi things (I don't really know how else to describe them. It's like a motorcycle that pulls a little box behind it where people sit.) pulled out in front of our van and the driver didn't have time to turn out of the way. We T-Boned the thing and it tipped over on its side. There were people inside, but luckily no one was seriously hurt and everyone was able to walk away. Our van however was not as lucky. For the next 15 to 20 minutes after the crash, the Tro Tro wouldn't start and it was leaking water. When we finally started going again the back door of the van opened and the people in the back seat had to hold it shut. Tro Tros usually have two workers in them. A driver and a mate. The mate calls people and helps fix problems like this. For some reason, this Tro Tro didn't have a mate. The driver had to pull over and try to slam the door shut like 3 times and he eventually just tied it with a rope. The car almost overheated a few times and we had to stop for gas so the whole ride took longer than 2 hours.

This week we also got transfer news. The news is that Elder Segura and I are going to be staying, but our two companions will be leaving us. Segura is going to be training, so I'm gonna be an Uncle and I'm just getting a normal comp. As I'm writing this my comps have already left me and my new one is on his way. Wish me luck!

I'll see you all next week and report how he is.

Elder Holyoak

Fut Ballers

Outside of the Mall (looks American)

Shopping in the Mall

The Last Supper

The Other Last Supper

Elder "Hole" oak

Master Chef Ghana Edition

 Hi Everyone! Some things happened this week.

The first thing that happened was cooking food for Sister Sacky. Brother Sacky is one of our favorite members in the ward and his wife Sister Sacky is just as cool. We went over to their house one day to teach a short member lesson. She ended up offering us some rice and beans and they were really good. After we finished though she told us that we now needed to cook food for her. At first, we laughed because we thought she was joking, that was until she brought us both aprons. We then went into the kitchen and she walked me and my companion through a rice and stew recipe. I helped make the rice and cut up some of the vegetables while my companion Elder Asante cooked the chicken and made the stew. At the end of everything, it paid off because we took some home and it was actually pretty good.

When I say driving in Ghana is crazy, I don't think you understand how crazy. People pass each other going like 50 mph on roads littered with potholes. Motorcyclists will swerve between cars and pop wheelies with three people on the bike. Honestly, I'm surprised I haven't seen anyone die yet. We can't get into crashes though because we are missionaries and we have God on our side, right? Wrong. Yesterday we were on our way back to our area after a stake activity. We were riding in a Tro Tro (Van Bus thing) like usual and there was a car pile up in front of us. The van in front of us stopped super hard and our driver didn't have time to stop. We rear-ended the other Tro Tro. Not hard enough for anyone to get hurt but hard enough to dent the car. The best part about the whole thing was that nobody go out of their cars. They just pulled up next to each other, waved and said sorry, then drove away. That's the most Ghanaian thing I can think of.

I have a new love here in Ghana and it's called FanMilk. FanMilk is a company that makes drinks and yogurt. They sell it in bottles but the best thing they make by far is the pouches. It's pretty much just frozen yogurt in a bag, but they have a ton of flavors. Chocolate, Strawberry, Peach, Strawberry Banana, Coconut Pineapple, and my two favorites are Vanilla and Mango Passionfruit. Vanilla sounds underwhelming but it is the consistency and flavor of a Vanilla Shake. The Mango Passionfruit is self-explanatory, it's just really good.

I just wrote an entire paragraph about frozen yogurt. That's the best part about these emails, I can talk about whatever I want to.

And that's the whole week. Some advice I have for anyone on a mission or preparing for one is to find something that you enjoy doing.  If you like contacting then do more contacting, if you like personal study then study more. The more you do things that you enjoy the easier it is to do things you don't enjoy.

See you all next week!

Elder Holyoak

Little Rascal

Eden, on top of the world

Caveman Cooking

The Finished Product

Our Queen, Sister Sanders 

(Mission President's wife)

The Forbidden Fruit

Hungary Man Size

Salad Dressing = Mayo and Ketchup

KON KON WONDERLAND

There wasn't a lot that happened this week. It was pretty average when it comes to contacting and teaching. We did have the chance to do another service project, but we had to reschedule it because we didn't have all the tools we needed.

Now to the good stuff. KON KON WONDERLAND. Now it's a little hard to explain what this place actually is. They call themselves "Ghana's first farm resort and ecological park". Now I don't really know what that means but the poster had a turtle on it so we decided to go. In order to get there, you need to walk about a mile and a half up a dirt road. You pretty much keep walking until you are in the middle of nowhere. 

When we first got to Kon Kon, we were a little confused because it was completely empty. The place was pretty nice and it was well kept in most of the areas, but there was nobody there. We walked around for about 10 minutes until we found a woman who said she worked there. There were two workers total and she was one of them. She gave us a tour around and it was very interesting. You can't really call it a zoo but they had animals. They have a snake, and a donkey, and a horse, and turtles, and chickens, and pigs, and that's it. I'm honestly just happy they had the turtle that was on the poster. I even got to hold the turtle and it was super heavy. The chickens and pigs were part of the farm and they were all sorted by color. I took pictures of the chickens, but I'll spare you from the horrors I saw in the pig pens. At the end of the day it ended up being 10 Cedis, ($2 USD) and I can safely say it is the best zoo... in all of Bawjiase.

And that was my week. Good luck to all of the missionaries reading this, keep on grinding.

See you all next week!

Elder Holyoak

Me and Franklin

Petting the Donkey

White Chickens

Brown Chickens

Kon Kon Wonderland

Almost a Zoo

Goal Post Guys

🌱Sugar Cane in the Membrane🌱

Hi everyone, this week we had an opportunity to do some service. We went with one of our favorite members, Sister Afia to her sugar cane farm and helped her cut some down. To be honest, I thought sugar cane was only in Minecraft. It tastes exactly like sugar and you just chew on it to get the water out. It was really good and they even let us take some home. They grow in big bamboo-like sticks. They're also planted in the mud and water, so we got kinda dirty. Overall, it was a really great opportunity and it was fun serving our members.

This week Elder Segura and I also had more opportunities to proselyte without our trainers. We went to his area in Papase for a day and then went to my area in Bawjiase for a day. I love being able to plan my own day and teaching people lessons in our own way. (It's also just nice to hang out with another American.) Transfers are coming up in a couple weeks, so there will be some big changes soon. I could be sent to the bush with a new companion, so we'll see how it goes.

The last thing I wanted to talk about is the phone calls here. I am pretty much used to everyone's accents. Sometimes they'll say something and you have to hear it again to understand. On phone calls, this is times ten. When people talk on the phone, it is so much harder to understand them. Not only that, but they can't understand my accent either. Sometimes we text people but when they text, they sometimes use Twi phrases. They'll also type things like "De" instead of "The". Learning how to text here is like learning a new language.

 

And that's my week! I'll see you all next time.

Elder Holyoak

Sister Afia and associates

Mmmmm, Yummy!

Sugar Cane Farm

Bush Bois

Untitled Artwork

Brethren